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| - Went here last night with some friends, and it really hit the spot! I love that there's no line up and that the seating is spacious (unlike most of the ramen hotspots in Toronto).
The Good: We were in the middle of ordering when a little something caught me eye...a STUDENT SPECIAL! Could it be? With a little gasp (#nochill), I asked the server, and she was kind enough to tell us that we qualified for it as long as we showed her our student cards. The deal was a bowl of ramen and a glass of pop (a glass! a glass! it was adorable - everything tastes better from a class), for $10.95. Totally worth it? I think so.
The ramen was pretty affordable, and I love how you can customize it with the kind of meat cut, noodle thickness, and broth that you'd like (chicken or pork, with pork costing a few cents extra.) It also arrived in good time.
The Bad: I ordered the ramen with spicy chilli oil and pork broth, but was disappointed at how not very spicy it was. Was the ramen still delicious? Absolutely, but after the first few bites, it begins to taste a little lackluster. I couldn't help but compare it to Sansotei's Spicy Tan Tan, which I think is much more flavourful, and which has more depth than Touhenboku's does. However, my dear friend Lisa ordered the ramen with garlic, and that was bursting with flavour!
The Ugly: Although this wasn't a deal-breaker, I asked if I could substitute my pork belly with corn (because I don't eat pork belly, and I knew it would go to waste if I didn't eat it.) The server said no, I couldn't and that it would be an extra charge. This didn't make much sense to me, because from a cost perspective, corn is a lot cheaper than pork belly, and technically I wasn't asking for something more expensive? I don't think it would have been too troublesome to make that simple swap, but it was, and I ended up just giving the pork belly in my ramen to a friend who enjoyed it more than I did. Just a heads up that they're not very flexible with substitutions here (but I do it at other ramen places like Sansotei all the time, no problem!)
Bottom line: Go here for a reliable ramen fix that's affordable, and with great service. Although it's not the best in the city, it's still pretty great. I'll definitely be Touhen..BACKu!
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